Tiger and Panther
by Malice Cross
Summary: Izumi Tora is sent to live with her uncle's family after she loses her mom. It is there that she meets Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, the ex-Espada with a foul temper. Grimmjow doesn't care much for her, until he learns of a disturbing secret. Rated T for the content you'll find in here. Lotsa fluff between Tora and Grimmjow and some emotional scenes where Tora has "episodes".
1. The Tiger

"...WHAT?! Tora's coming to live with us?! What about... what about her father?! Can't he take her?!" Ichigo couldn't believe what he was hearing. His mom's sister, aunt Miyako, recently died in an accident. Her daughter, Tora, had been arranged to come live with them because apparently she had no other family.

"Her father isn't even from Japan, he's in America and we don't know where he lives. No point in searching for someone if we don't have a clue about his location."

"Don't get me wrong, dad. I'd rather her live with us than turn her over to the government. But where will she sleep?! Grimmjow's using the spare room, and it's not appropriate for her to share my room, family or not."

"We can move Grimmjow into your room and she can take the spare bedroom."

"Fine by me, but will Grimmjow be fine with sharing my room? You know how he is."

Grimmjow sat on the stairs, listening to the commotion going on between Ichigo and his dad. The old man may be a hyper and crazy bastard, but he was kind enough to let him live with their family, even if he was an ex-Espada. Maybe because he'd been stripped of his rank, his powers limited due to the stupid permanent gigai they forced him to live in, and the fact that he knew Ichigo.

He didn't give two shits where he slept, but he'd miss sleeping in an actual bed rather than the floor. Ichigo had like, three spare futons in his closet, right? He could pile them up so that he'd be comfy.

"Ano... Grimmjow-san? Would you like to come and have dinner? I made your favourite, ginger beef with fried rice." Yuzu appeared before him, still wearing her apron and holding a cooking spoon. It sounded like a request but anyone who lives with her knows it was more of an order and she would not take no for an answer, why else would she be holding a metal ladle? To beat him with if he said no, of course. "Yeah, I'm comin'." he grunted irritably as he followed the almost-always happy blonde into the dining room, where the other sister was already there and silently eating, and across from hers was his own plate. He sighed and sat down, ignoring the arguing duo in the other room.

"So, tell me about your cousin." he finally broke the silence after a few moments. Yuzu sighed and set down her glass. "If you really want to know.. Her full name is Izumi Tora, she's just turned 14 and a second-year middle school student. She's a bit childish and really shy, but I think you'll like her. She has blue eyes, like yours, because her father supposedly was of American heritage and fled back to his home country when he found out that Miyako-san was pregnant with his child. Irresponsible, if you ask me. What kind of man runs away from the responsibility of being a father?" She paused in her words to take a sip of her tea. "Why so curious? You never ask about others."

Grimmjow rolled his eyes gave a derisive snort. "We're going to be living under the same roof from now on, right? Makes sense to know a bit about her.."

...

A few days later, Ichigo and the others went to the train station to pick up Tora. Since he wasn't blood related to her, he stayed home because he would just feel out of place. Not to mention there would be no room in the van if he tagged along. So now he relaxed in their room, doing nothing while waiting for the others to get back. He was dying to pound Ichigo's face in with a good sparring match.

He heard the front door unlock and then the voices of people chatting. He decided, that since he had nothing better to do, he'd go downstairs and observe the new family addition. He was a little peeved that he was being kicked out of his current room, but she was more important because she's blood-related to them, he isn't.

"Ichi-nii, I've missed you so much!" he heard a new feminine voice speak, obviously quite young. She sounded as if she was crying. "I missed you too, Tora. Everything's gonna be fine, I'll be here for you. Don't cry." he heard Ichigo reply, with a gentle tone of voice. _'Heh, what a softie.' _He snickered to himself as he walked into the living room, making everyone turn their heads at him.

Snuggled into Ichigo's arms was a relatively petite girl with auburn hair and sparkling blue eyes. She was wearing jeans, high-top shoes and a grey hoodie with a tiger on the back. She looked awful comfy in his arms, using his shoulder as a pillow. Wasn't she a little old to be doing that? Oh well, not his business.

She noticed him and whispered something inaudible into Ichigo's ear. "My roommate. Go on, say hello. He doesn't bite." He was encouraging her like a toddler? Kami, this girl must have been sheltered from the outside world. That's gonna change. Living in Karakura Town is anything but normal, especially if you live in the Kurosaki household. She had a decent amount of reiatsu, maybe about the same as a fraccion but not too powerful. _'Maybe I can convince Ichigo to let me train her.' _he smirked to himself and approached the orangette and the little Tiger he was holding.

"Name's Grimmjow. Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez." he offered one of his trademark maniac grins and to his surprise she smiled a little. "I'm Tora. You remind me of a kitty." She reached out and gently petted his hair. "Such a pretty colour..." she murmered to herself as she continued messing with it.

_'Great, now I've become her personal plaything. Just fucking lovely.' _


	2. Rooftop Confession

A month passed and Grimmjow found out just how childish Tora really was. Her height only intensified her childish persona, too. Grimmjow summed her up to be a "14-year-old with the mentality of a 5-year-old" and just let her do whatever to him. Not that he didn't enjoy having someone appreciate him just for being himself, but sometimes she could be a handful and Yuzu threatened to beat him with whatever would hurt really bad if he made her cry.

...

Monday morning. 6AM. Clear skies and warm weather. Yuzu was already up and making packed lunches while Grimmjow sat at the table with a cup of coffee in his hands, listening to the radio in front of him while he nibbled on the last donut. Ichigo would be staying after school every day all week to study for the upcoming exams, meaning their usual Monday ass-beating competition would be canceled until exams were over. He'd find something else to do, the Sexta never gets bored. He heard footsteps coming downstairs and thought it was Ichigo.

Instead, it was Tora. And the moment he saw her, his attitude went from bored to concerned. The dark circles under her eyes were getting worse, and she looked pale.

"Uh.. what's wrong with her? She looks awful," Grimmjow asked Yuzu once Tora had gone into the kitchen to raid the fridge of a can of coffee. Yuzu shook her head. "She had nightmares all night and only slept a few hours. I told her to go drink one of those coffee energy things Ichi-nii keeps in the fridge. It'll wake her up somewhat so that she's not falling asleep in class," Grimmjow shrugged at her reply and sat down in the chair again.

A few minutes later, a pair of very small and familiar hands began playing with his hair. Apparently the colour of his hair was soothing to her and he let her mess with it as long as she didn't try to cut it. Yes, she was very much a child on the inside no matter how you looked at it.

Ichigo came downstairs wearing his trademark scowl, but it softened when Tora ran up and hugged him. _"What a wuss," _he made no attempt to hide the smirk that spread across his face. Ichigo waited until Tora went back into the bathroom to brush her teeth before he spoke up again. "Grimmjow, if you can, please follow Tora around today. You don't have to be seen, just please follow and keep an eye on her. Apparently some of the second and third year students are bullying her and if she snaps, it isn't good. Only intervene if things get physical, I'm sure you're strong enough to restrain her,"

He toyed with the idea for a few minutes and then shrugged. "Eh, fine. I have one of those bracelets Ulquiorra gave Orihime. In fact, it's the same one she wore. I jacked it off Ulquiorra a while ago, thinking I could use it for something. I can use it and be completely invisible," he grinned at the thought of playing a stalker. Following her and watching everything she does while she remains completely clueless.

Ichigo sighed and facepalmed. "And don't you dare even _think _of peeping on her in the locker rooms. I'll let _him _out to beat your ass if you do."

"I can't help it, for a fourteen-year-old she's pretty damn cute. Even if she is a midget like your girlfri- ow!" he was interrupted by Ichigo hitting him over the head with a book. "Rukia isn't my girlfriend, I haven't seen her since the war and even if we did get together her brother won't allow it. Now hush and go get that bracelet."

Grumbling in annoyance, Grimmjow headed upstairs and pulled the bracelet out of Ichigo's desk drawer, tucking it into his jeans pocket. He spotted Pantera resting up against the wall on a stand, and briefly toyed with the idea of taking it with him but he decided against it. Besides, humans were weak and couldn't fight him anyways.

"Ichi-nii, we're leaving now!" Karin shouted from downstairs. Grimmjow took this as his cue to start his mission. Slipping the bracelet on, he went downstairs and followed them out the door. Fuck, did the sun have to be so bright this early in the morning? It's barely 7:30 and the sun's already starting its torture sessions.

Tora didn't walk with the twins, but rather a good ten feet behind them. Apparently she wasn't much of a socialite and liked to be alone, though she did enjoy his and Ichigo's company. Yuzu did mention that she's more close to Ichigo than anyone else, and doesn't have any friends because of her odd-coloured hair.

Sneaking up a bit closer, he saw she was playing around with her phone. What is it with girls and their fancy expensive cellphones? Grimmjow didn't get the appeal, but maybe that's because he's not a girl. She stopped outside the school gates, putting her phone away and looked nervous. After a few moments of what he decided was an internal debate, she walked through the gates and into the school courtyard, and he followed quickly after her.

This building looked like it had at LEAST four floors! He followed her into the building, and all seemed safe so far. Until she headed up to the third floor, where all the 8th grade classes were. At first, it confused him as to why she was going in a different direction than the twins, and then remembered she's a year older than them. This is when the trouble started. The moment she walked into the classroom labeled 2-A, a group of three girls at the front of the room all looked at her and began whispering amongst themselves and laughing at her._  
_

Tora, however, trudged her way to the front of the room, in the upper right corner near the window. She took her seat and pulled out a notebook, copying what was on the board. The girls in the front of the room near the teacher's stand noticed this, and a girl with her dark brown hair styled in twintails picked up the eraser and purposely erased what was written, just as Tora started to copy it.

A look of disappointment and irritation flashed across Tora's face as she sent the girls a death glare. The guilty one snickered. "Oh, I'm _so _sorry. I didn't know you were paying attention to what was written there," her sarcastic, mocking tone obviously irritated the little Tiger, but she made no move to get up and choke a bitch. _"That twintailed bitch reminds me too much of Loly," _he grimaced, moving to the front of the classroom to listen in on their hushed conversation.

"Can you believe that someone like _her _got accepted into this school?" a girl with wavy light brown hair whispered. Another girl with short black hair and glasses crossed her arms. "_I _heard that she moved here from Tokyo and is living with the Kurosaki family. I always see her walking home with the twins, Yuzu and Karin," this caused the other two to gasp and move in closer. "No way!" the group leader hissed. "You mean she's related to _the _Kurosaki Ichigo?! The legendary graduate who could take on a full team of thugs and win? No wonder the teachers avoid her like the plague. They're probably afraid of her, but she seems like such a wimp," the Loly-reincarnation snickered and stole a glance at Tora.

She was reading something, and seemed not to notice. The girls continued to gossip about her and he listened to every word, so he could repeat it to her later. She seemed so lonely, though. _"Does she have any friends?" _he wondered. Well, guess he'd just have to find out for himself. He took a seat on the countertop at the back of the classroom. Next to him was a cage with a white rabbit inside of it. _"A class pet? This must be the one that Tora's always talking about," _he crossed his legs and propped his head on his hand and watched as class began.

...

As it turns out, his assumption was correct. She had no friends at all, and only spoke when asked to answer a question. Lunchtime was after the third class, so he followed her out of the classroom and up to the rooftop, probably to eat alone. Not for long, though. Yuzu and Karin appeared a moment later and the three of them sat together. There seemed to be nobody else around, so he hid from their sight, slipped the bracelet off and put it back into his pocket, and then came around the corner.

The twins saw him, but he put a finger to his lips as he snuck up on Tora from behind. Slowly, he crouched down ran a finger up her back, causing her to squeal. She turned around quickly and came face-to-face with him. "Oh.. it's just you..." she sighed in relief and turned around to sit next to him while he himself sat down next to her, forming a circle between the four of them.

"Grimmjow-san, what are you doing here?" Yuzu asked, pointing her chopsticks at him. He grunted and ran a hand through his hair. "Berry-boy asked me to follow her" he jerked his thumb at the strawberry-blonde midget next to him "to make sure nobody picks a fight with her," he spared said midget a glance and saw that she was blushing. Karin smirked. "Yeah, it'll be bad if someone instigates a fight with her. All hell will break loose and she might end up _killing _someone if nobody stops her,"

Tora ate her lunch silently and didn't say anything until she put the empty box and chopsticks back into the little case they came from. "Ichi-nii sent you..?" she questioned, the blush on her cheeks becoming more prominent. He held back a laugh and playfully poked her cheek. "Well duh, he worries about you. In fact, _why _does he worry about you so much?" he asked.

She looked surprised at his question, then looked over at the twins. Both of them nodded, as if giving her permission of some sort. She made sure nobody else was around, and then leaned in. "Well, don't tell anyone else, but... I have.." she paused for a moment, taking a deep breath.

"I have an inner hollow,"

* * *

Aaaaaand that's chapter 2. Sorry for the really long delay, life has kept me busy. My mom had neck fusion surgery exactly a month ago (( September 25 )) and is still in a neck brace and recovering. Plus I'm the biggest space case you'll ever meet. I have ADHD =C


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